Title, Author, and why I chose to read The Maze Runner
The book I read for the first quarter is The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I chose to read this book because I got a lot of recommendations to read it from some of my friends who had already read the book. They said the book was really exciting, and I would not believe the ending. Genres This book has many genres and it could fit into many categories, but the three genres I think it fits into best are fantasy, young adult fiction, and mystery. I think this book is part fantasy because the book takes place in a post apocalyptic world. Also, although they do not give a specific date in the book, it describes advanced technology. This hints that the setting of the book is in the future. This book fits into young adult for two reasons. First, it is a pretty long book, second, there are some vivid images, and I do not think that this book was intended for anyone below the age of twelve. I think this book is part mystery; the author keeps us reading till end. It is only then the biggest mystery is revealed.
Summary The book starts off with the main character, Thomas, waking up in an old lift. The only thing he can remember is his name, other than that his memory is completely gone. After a very long ride, the lift stops and opens up, and some boys at the top lift Thomas up with a rope. He soon discovers that the place he has been taken is called the Glade, a huge space surrounded by huge walls. The walls have four gates that open every morning and close every night. Beyond the Glade, there is a huge maze, guarded by creatures called grievers. Thomas discovers that every month a new boy, with no memory, comes to the Glade. The inhabitants of the glade call themselves Gladers. The Gladers have developed a society, some care for animals, some farm crops, some clean, some cook, and most importantly, some of the Gladers run into the maze and explore, in hopes of finding an exit. It is strictly forbidden to go out into the maze, unless you are a runner. Life in the Glade has been the same for years, until the day after Thomas' arrival when the first female arrives in the glade. Soon after her arrival, she delivers a message, “everything is about to change.” The girl is also holding a note that says, “She’s the last one. Ever.” She then mysteriously passes into a coma. Thomas thinks he remembers her from their life before they went to the Glade, but he cannot remember precisely. A couple of days later, a runner, Minho, comes back to the Glade and announces that he saw a dead griever. No one has ever heard of a dead griever, so Minho, and the leader of the Gladers, Alby, go into the maze and try to find it again. Toward the end of the day, when the gates are only a few minutes from closing, Minho and Alby still have not come back to the Glade. Since no one has survived a night in the Maze, and therefor the Gladers will think they are dead. Finally, when the walls have already started to close, Thomas sees Minho and Alby in the distance. Alby looks hurt, and Minho is helping him along. Thomas knows there is no way they will make it back in time, so he steps out into the maze to help. The gates close. The three Gladers find themselves enduring a long night of climbing the ivy on the walls, running around the maze, and tricking grievers to kill themselves by jumping off a cliff. Finally, Thomas, Minho, and Alby make it through the night and back to the Glade. At the Glade, Thomas learns that Alby has been stung by the grievers, and needs medicine, that the Gladers call The Serum, to survive. If you have been injected with The Serum, then you go through an extremely painful process called The Changing. While you are going through The Changing, you can remember part of your past. Half of the Gladers think Thomas is extremely brave for going out to help his fiends, and the other half think Thomas should be punished for breaking the number one rule, don’t go out into the maze unless you are a runner. All of the leader of the Glade have a meeting and decide that Thomas will spend one day in jail, then he will be nominated to be a runner. Thomas is surprisingly happy to be a runner, despite his time out in the maze. Within the next few days, a lot of abnormal stuff happens around the glade. For example, the girl who was in the coma wakes up and says that she has triggered the ending. The next day the sun goes out leaving a dark shade of grey everywhere. Then at night the gates do not close, leaving the Gladers vulnerable and unprotected from the grievers. Will the Gladers find a way to escape, or will the grievers kill all of the Gladers before they can try? Characters The three main characters in The Maze Runner are Thomas, Newt, and Minho. The book is told through the perspective of Thomas. He is the one who solves the mystery of the maze, and saves all of the Gladers as they escape. He changes very much throughout the book. For example, in the beginning of the book, he seems whiny and dependent. We see this after Thomas saved Minho and Alby and all of the leaders and Thomas have a meeting. When the leaders are talking about him, he groaned at how invisible he had become and says, “ I love how you guys are talking about me like I’m not here.” Then Newt says, “We just elected you as a runner, quit crying and get out of here.” Toward the end of the book, we see Thomas take charge and become a real leader in the Glade, even though he is not officially the leader. We see this when he purposely gets stung by a griever in order to get some of his memories back, and help the rest of the Gladers escape. We also see him willing to risk his life for the other gladers, like when he led the charge to go into the griever hole and escape the maze. Newt does not really change much throughout the book. He stays the same, because he has already been in the Glade for a couple of years, and nothing really surprises him anymore. It the beginning of the book, he is the second in command at the Glade, but then when Alby gets stung by the Grievers, he becomes in charge of the Gladers. He is one of Thomas’s favorite Gladers, and he cares for the well being of the Gladers more than anything else. He likes order because he thinks it helps people not lose hope. We see this when he says, “you’re as smart as you look, Thomas. That is one of the reasons we run this place all nice and busy like. You get lazy, you get sad. Start giving up. Plain and simple.” Minho is the leader of the runners, which means he is the best of the best. He is fast, strong, smart, and a good leader. We see this when he takes Thomas to the cliff while grievers are chasing them. When the grievers start to charge them, Thomas and Minho move out of the way at the last second, and the grievers fall over the cliff. He also gives total support to Thomas. We see this when Thomas and Minho are at the meeting to decide what to do about Thomas. Minho says, “I nominate Thomas to replace me as head of the runners.” This is very unusual because normally it takes months to just become a runner, let alone the head of the runners. Themes and Big Ideas The whole idea of the book is, a bunch of teenage kids trying to escape a deadly maze, built by unknown creators. Most of the Gladers think that they were criminals before they were sent to the maze and that is why they were put here, with no memory of their life before. All of the Gladers think that if they can escape the maze, they will be able to go back to their life before, in the real world. For this reason, the Gladers life revolves around the maze. We can see this when Newt says to Thomas, “I need you to help us do what we have been sent here to do. Find our way out. Solve the maze and find our way home.” There are a few themes in The Maze Runner. The first theme is the importance of friendship. Thomas makes new friends almost immediately when he first arrives in the glade; especially with Chuck, an innocent little boy who arrived in the Glade right before Thomas. Thomas and Chuck form a friendship almost immediately and at the end of the book, Chuck makes the ultimate sacrifice for his friend. Another theme for this book is persistence and hope. The Gladers have been stuck there for two years, and never found a way out or even got close, until Thomas came. Through all of that time, not a single Glader gave up, they were all working hard thinking there must be a way out of the maze even when the runners have been searching for two years. Another theme of the book is bravery. Throughout the entire book, all of the Gladers demonstrate immense bravery and courage. All of the Gladers who made it to the end were extremely brave, and even those that died in the battle of the grievers were also very brave, willing to fight those terrible creatures. Major conflicts There is a conflict between the Gladers, and the creators of the maze. The Gladers are furious at the creators, for trapping them in a maze guarded by grievers for so long and wiping their memories, so that they could not remember who they were. There is also a conflict with most of the Gladers and a kid called Gally who is one of the leaders. Gally had been through the Changing, so he had some of his memories back. He hated Thomas because he thought he saw Thomas before, with the creators, making the maze. Most other Gladers do not like Gally. We can see this when they are having a meeting and Gally and Minho get into a fight, which Minho wins and he says, “I swear Gally don’t ever threaten me again. Don’t ever talk to me again. Ever. If you do, I’ll break your neck, right after I’m done with your arms and legs.” The biggest conflict however is with the maze itself. It has trapped the Gladers in the Glade for two years. Although at night, it offers protection from the Grievers, the Gladers still hate it. The runners have been studying it and searching it for two years, trying to find and exit but with no luck, at least until Thomas' arrival. It turns out Thomas did help build the maze; so he has unique memories that can help solve it. This is how the Gladers are able to solve the Maze after two years of searching. Symbolic Image
The photographic image I created shows a maze, like the one in the book, with a sunrise in the background. The maze symbolizes the maze in the book, that all of the Gladers were trapped in. The sunrise symbolizes what almost all of the Gladers thought about the maze, that if they solved it, then they would be taken to a new world, one without all of the problems of the Glade. A world without grievers and without the maze. A new beginning for all of the Gladers, and a new life to start. That is what this image symbolizes. New Words There are many new and unusual words that I found in The Maze Runner. First is the word bulbous. This word is used to describe a Griever. “A large bulbous creature the size of a cow but with no distinct shape twisted and seethed along the ground in the corridor outside” This word is a synonym of large, it means fat or round. Another word that I thought was interesting is in the same sentence, Seethed. “A large bulbous creature the size of a cow but with no distinct shape twisted and seethed along the ground in the corridor outside” Seethed means to bubble, to churn, or to foam. Another world that I found interesting is dilapidated. This word is used to describe one of the buildings that Gladers made. "An odd, dilapidated wooden building near one of the corners of the square contrasted greatly with the gray stone." Dilapidated means run down, wrecked, or ruined. Another word is Congregating. It is used to describe a group of Gladers standing by a shack. “Thomas had almost reached the front door of the shack and the small group of boys congregating there when he was hit by a sudden and surprise rush of anger." Congregating means an assembling, a gathering, or a meeting. Another interesting world is vertigo. It is used to describe what Thomas is feeling while looking at the walls that surround the Glade. “He felt an uncomfortable sense of vertigo looking at the towering walls, as if he hovered above them, instead of sitting at their base." Vertigo means dizziness, light-headedness, or unsteadiness. Similar Books
The Maze Runner reminds me of The Hunger Games series in four different ways. First, they both take place in post-apocalyptic worlds. Second, they both try to overthrow a higher power. Third, in both, the main characters are trying to survive, against all sorts of different dangers. Fourth, they include people in a position of power creating a situation where children are struggling for survival. The Huger Games series takes place after a big revolt between the government and the different districts, in which thousands of people died and is therefore post-apocalyptic. The Maze Runner takes place during a worldwide plague where millions of people died, and is therefore post-apocalyptic. In the Huger Games series, the Main character, Katniss, tries to start another revolt to overthrow the government, because the government was taking kids, and making them kill each other. In the Maze Runner, the entire Glade tries to escape from the maze, so they can go back to their normal lives, but also so they can find the creators and punish them. In the Hunger Games series, the main character, Katniss, is trying to survive in a contest, where other people try to kill her and she has to fight to survive. In The Maze Runner, Thomas tries to survive in the Glade, where grievers are trying to kill him and prevent him from escaping. The two books are also similar in that powerful adults use children to solve adult problems. The Maze Runner uses the creators who cull out smart teenagers who can solve their impending inhalation. The Huger Games has adults using children to fight, so that the adults themselves will not have to fight. For these reasons, the Hunger Game series and the Maze Runner are similar books.
Michael Scilken
September 25, 2012
Quarter one book essay
Title, Author, and why I chose to read The Maze Runner
The book I read for the first quarter is The Maze Runner by James Dashner. I chose to read this book because I got a lot of recommendations to read it from some of my friends who had already read the book. They said the book was really exciting, and I would not believe the ending.
Genres
This book has many genres and it could fit into many categories, but the three genres I think it fits into best are fantasy, young adult fiction, and mystery. I think this book is part fantasy because the book takes place in a post apocalyptic world. Also, although they do not give a specific date in the book, it describes advanced technology. This hints that the setting of the book is in the future. This book fits into young adult for two reasons. First, it is a pretty long book, second, there are some vivid images, and I do not think that this book was intended for anyone below the age of twelve. I think this book is part mystery; the author keeps us reading till end. It is only then the biggest mystery is revealed.
Summary
The book starts off with the main character, Thomas, waking up in an old lift. The only thing he can remember is his name, other than that his memory is completely gone. After a very long ride, the lift stops and opens up, and some boys at the top lift Thomas up with a rope. He soon discovers that the place he has been taken is called the Glade, a huge space surrounded by huge walls. The walls have four gates that open every morning and close every night. Beyond the Glade, there is a huge maze, guarded by creatures called grievers. Thomas discovers that every month a new boy, with no memory, comes to the Glade. The inhabitants of the glade call themselves Gladers. The Gladers have developed a society, some care for animals, some farm crops, some clean, some cook, and most importantly, some of the Gladers run into the maze and explore, in hopes of finding an exit. It is strictly forbidden to go out into the maze, unless you are a runner.
Life in the Glade has been the same for years, until the day after Thomas' arrival when the first female arrives in the glade. Soon after her arrival, she delivers a message, “everything is about to change.” The girl is also holding a note that says, “She’s the last one. Ever.” She then mysteriously passes into a coma. Thomas thinks he remembers her from their life before they went to the Glade, but he cannot remember precisely.
A couple of days later, a runner, Minho, comes back to the Glade and announces that he saw a dead griever. No one has ever heard of a dead griever, so Minho, and the leader of the Gladers, Alby, go into the maze and try to find it again. Toward the end of the day, when the gates are only a few minutes from closing, Minho and Alby still have not come back to the Glade. Since no one has survived a night in the Maze, and therefor the Gladers will think they are dead. Finally, when the walls have already started to close, Thomas sees Minho and Alby in the distance. Alby looks hurt, and Minho is helping him along. Thomas knows there is no way they will make it back in time, so he steps out into the maze to help. The gates close.
The three Gladers find themselves enduring a long night of climbing the ivy on the walls, running around the maze, and tricking grievers to kill themselves by jumping off a cliff. Finally, Thomas, Minho, and Alby make it through the night and back to the Glade. At the Glade, Thomas learns that Alby has been stung by the grievers, and needs medicine, that the Gladers call The Serum, to survive. If you have been injected with The Serum, then you go through an extremely painful process called The Changing. While you are going through The Changing, you can remember part of your past.
Half of the Gladers think Thomas is extremely brave for going out to help his fiends, and the other half think Thomas should be punished for breaking the number one rule, don’t go out into the maze unless you are a runner. All of the leader of the Glade have a meeting and decide that Thomas will spend one day in jail, then he will be nominated to be a runner. Thomas is surprisingly happy to be a runner, despite his time out in the maze.
Within the next few days, a lot of abnormal stuff happens around the glade. For example, the girl who was in the coma wakes up and says that she has triggered the ending. The next day the sun goes out leaving a dark shade of grey everywhere. Then at night the gates do not close, leaving the Gladers vulnerable and unprotected from the grievers. Will the Gladers find a way to escape, or will the grievers kill all of the Gladers before they can try?
Characters
The three main characters in The Maze Runner are Thomas, Newt, and Minho. The book is told through the perspective of Thomas. He is the one who solves the mystery of the maze, and saves all of the Gladers as they escape. He changes very much throughout the book. For example, in the beginning of the book, he seems whiny and dependent. We see this after Thomas saved Minho and Alby and all of the leaders and Thomas have a meeting. When the leaders are talking about him, he groaned at how invisible he had become and says, “ I love how you guys are talking about me like I’m not here.” Then Newt says, “We just elected you as a runner, quit crying and get out of here.” Toward the end of the book, we see Thomas take charge and become a real leader in the Glade, even though he is not officially the leader. We see this when he purposely gets stung by a griever in order to get some of his memories back, and help the rest of the Gladers escape. We also see him willing to risk his life for the other gladers, like when he led the charge to go into the griever hole and escape the maze.
Newt does not really change much throughout the book. He stays the same, because he has already been in the Glade for a couple of years, and nothing really surprises him anymore. It the beginning of the book, he is the second in command at the Glade, but then when Alby gets stung by the Grievers, he becomes in charge of the Gladers. He is one of Thomas’s favorite Gladers, and he cares for the well being of the Gladers more than anything else. He likes order because he thinks it helps people not lose hope. We see this when he says, “you’re as smart as you look, Thomas. That is one of the reasons we run this place all nice and busy like. You get lazy, you get sad. Start giving up. Plain and simple.”
Minho is the leader of the runners, which means he is the best of the best. He is fast, strong, smart, and a good leader. We see this when he takes Thomas to the cliff while grievers are chasing them. When the grievers start to charge them, Thomas and Minho move out of the way at the last second, and the grievers fall over the cliff. He also gives total support to Thomas. We see this when Thomas and Minho are at the meeting to decide what to do about Thomas. Minho says, “I nominate Thomas to replace me as head of the runners.” This is very unusual because normally it takes months to just become a runner, let alone the head of the runners.
Themes and Big Ideas
The whole idea of the book is, a bunch of teenage kids trying to escape a deadly maze, built by unknown creators. Most of the Gladers think that they were criminals before they were sent to the maze and that is why they were put here, with no memory of their life before. All of the Gladers think that if they can escape the maze, they will be able to go back to their life before, in the real world. For this reason, the Gladers life revolves around the maze. We can see this when Newt says to Thomas, “I need you to help us do what we have been sent here to do. Find our way out. Solve the maze and find our way home.”
There are a few themes in The Maze Runner. The first theme is the importance of friendship. Thomas makes new friends almost immediately when he first arrives in the glade; especially with Chuck, an innocent little boy who arrived in the Glade right before Thomas. Thomas and Chuck form a friendship almost immediately and at the end of the book, Chuck makes the ultimate sacrifice for his friend. Another theme for this book is persistence and hope. The Gladers have been stuck there for two years, and never found a way out or even got close, until Thomas came. Through all of that time, not a single Glader gave up, they were all working hard thinking there must be a way out of the maze even when the runners have been searching for two years. Another theme of the book is bravery. Throughout the entire book, all of the Gladers demonstrate immense bravery and courage. All of the Gladers who made it to the end were extremely brave, and even those that died in the battle of the grievers were also very brave, willing to fight those terrible creatures.
Major conflicts
There is a conflict between the Gladers, and the creators of the maze. The Gladers are furious at the creators, for trapping them in a maze guarded by grievers for so long and wiping their memories, so that they could not remember who they were. There is also a conflict with most of the Gladers and a kid called Gally who is one of the leaders. Gally had been through the Changing, so he had some of his memories back. He hated Thomas because he thought he saw Thomas before, with the creators, making the maze. Most other Gladers do not like Gally. We can see this when they are having a meeting and Gally and Minho get into a fight, which Minho wins and he says, “I swear Gally don’t ever threaten me again. Don’t ever talk to me again. Ever. If you do, I’ll break your neck, right after I’m done with your arms and legs.”
The biggest conflict however is with the maze itself. It has trapped the Gladers in the Glade for two years. Although at night, it offers protection from the Grievers, the Gladers still hate it. The runners have been studying it and searching it for two years, trying to find and exit but with no luck, at least until Thomas' arrival. It turns out Thomas did help build the maze; so he has unique memories that can help solve it. This is how the Gladers are able to solve the Maze after two years of searching.
Symbolic Image
The photographic image I created shows a maze, like the one in the book, with a sunrise in the background. The maze symbolizes the maze in the book, that all of the Gladers were trapped in. The sunrise symbolizes what almost all of the Gladers thought about the maze, that if they solved it, then they would be taken to a new world, one without all of the problems of the Glade. A world without grievers and without the maze. A new beginning for all of the Gladers, and a new life to start. That is what this image symbolizes.
New Words
There are many new and unusual words that I found in The Maze Runner. First is the word bulbous. This word is used to describe a Griever. “A large bulbous creature the size of a cow but with no distinct shape twisted and seethed along the ground in the corridor outside” This word is a synonym of large, it means fat or round. Another word that I thought was interesting is in the same sentence, Seethed. “A large bulbous creature the size of a cow but with no distinct shape twisted and seethed along the ground in the corridor outside” Seethed means to bubble, to churn, or to foam. Another world that I found interesting is dilapidated. This word is used to describe one of the buildings that Gladers made. "An odd, dilapidated wooden building near one of the corners of the square contrasted greatly with the gray stone." Dilapidated means run down, wrecked, or ruined. Another word is Congregating. It is used to describe a group of Gladers standing by a shack. “Thomas had almost reached the front door of the shack and the small group of boys congregating there when he was hit by a sudden and surprise rush of anger." Congregating means an assembling, a gathering, or a meeting. Another interesting world is vertigo. It is used to describe what Thomas is feeling while looking at the walls that surround the Glade. “He felt an uncomfortable sense of vertigo looking at the towering walls, as if he hovered above them, instead of sitting at their base." Vertigo means dizziness, light-headedness, or unsteadiness.
Similar Books
The Maze Runner reminds me of The Hunger Games series in four different ways. First, they both take place in post-apocalyptic worlds. Second, they both try to overthrow a higher power. Third, in both, the main characters are trying to survive, against all sorts of different dangers. Fourth, they include people in a position of power creating a situation where children are struggling for survival. The Huger Games series takes place after a big revolt between the government and the different districts, in which thousands of people died and is therefore post-apocalyptic. The Maze Runner takes place during a worldwide plague where millions of people died, and is therefore post-apocalyptic. In the Huger Games series, the Main character, Katniss, tries to start another revolt to overthrow the government, because the government was taking kids, and making them kill each other. In the Maze Runner, the entire Glade tries to escape from the maze, so they can go back to their normal lives, but also so they can find the creators and punish them. In the Hunger Games series, the main character, Katniss, is trying to survive in a contest, where other people try to kill her and she has to fight to survive. In The Maze Runner, Thomas tries to survive in the Glade, where grievers are trying to kill him and prevent him from escaping. The two books are also similar in that powerful adults use children to solve adult problems. The Maze Runner uses the creators who cull out smart teenagers who can solve their impending inhalation. The Huger Games has adults using children to fight, so that the adults themselves will not have to fight. For these reasons, the Hunger Game series and the Maze Runner are similar books.
Goodreads review